LEFT: DeMarco Murray, who rushed for 175 yards, heads to the end zone for a TD despite the efforts of St. Louis' T.J. McDonald.

LEFT: DeMarco Murray, who rushed for 175 yards, heads to the end zone for a TD despite the efforts of St. Louis' T.J. McDonald.

Ram-shackling victory

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ARLINGTON — Flashing toothy smiles after watching the Dallas Cowboys crush the St. Louis Rams 31-7 on Sunday, Jerry Jones wasn't quite giddy enough to pronounce his club the frontrunner in the struggling NFC East and the rest of the competition dead.

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“Before we start putting the dirt on the coffin, we better wait and see some more games played,” the owner said. “This division could turn out to be as strong as horseradish.”

While Jones could be right, signs abound indicating the Cowboys are indeed the best of a bad division.

Led by a muscular 175-yard, one-touchdown rushing performance from DeMarco Murray and a suffocating six-sack, one-turnover outing by the defense, the Cowboys led from start to finish in improving to 2-1 and separating themselves from the putrid pack in the East.

Colleges

One thing is certain: No matter what Philadelphia (1-2), the New York Giants (0-3) and Washington (0-3) do the rest of the way, Dallas will be hard to beat if it continues to play like it did against the Rams (1-2).

“We've had approximately 500 games since I've been with the Cowboys the past 25 years, and I bet I can count on 15, 20 fingers the number of games that we've had this kind of positive play, where we get the lead and have this kind of ultimate outcome,” Jones said. “You don't get many in the NFL.”

It started with Murray picking up where he left off the last time he faced the Rams. Logging a career-high 26 carries, the third-year pro from Oklahoma had his best performance since rambling for a franchise-record 253 yards on 25 attempts against St. Louis in 2011.

The ninth-best rushing outing in franchise history and the first 100-yard effort by a Dallas back since Murray did it in the 2012 opener also provided the offense with much-needed balance after the Cowboys averaged 62 yards on the ground in the first two games.

“We did a good job up front, and the commitment to the running game, both in practice and during the ballgame, was excellent,” coach Jason Garrett said.

Murray, who complained last week after the 17-16 loss at Kansas City that he wasn't getting enough carries, declined to talk to the media, saying he had to attend to a “personal, family” matter. The Cowboys are 10-0 when Murray logs 20 or more carries.

“It makes my job and everyone else's job easier,” said Tony Romo, who was 17 of 24 for 210 yards with three touchdowns and no turnovers for a 137.2 passer rating.

What also made Romo's job easier was a defense that limited the Rams to 18 yards in the first half while helping the Cowboys to a 17-0 lead. It was the fewest yards allowed by Dallas in a half since it gave up 17 against Seattle on Oct. 11, 1992.

With quarterback Sam Bradford facing constant pressure, St. Louis was 1 of 13 on third downs. The Rams entered the game with no sacks allowed, but that didn't stop DeMarcus Ware from dropping Bradford twice to pass Harvey Martin for first place on the Cowboys' career sack list with 115.

“When you think about the tradition of the Dallas Cowboys,” Ware said, “of who held the record, Harvey Martin, and when you talk about Charles Haley, 'Too Tall' Jones, the list goes on, Randy White, to have the opportunity to be etched in stone with those names, it really feels great.”

The other sacks came from Orlando Scandrick, Kyle Wilber, George Selvie and Jason Hatcher, who has had a sack in each of the team's three games.

“It was a big challenge for us facing a team that hadn't given up a sack,” defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said, “and our players accepted the challenge.”

Notebook: Receiver Miles Austin suffered a hamstring injury in the third quarter and did not return. ... Defensive end Anthony Spencer sat out the game after making his season debut last week in Kansas City following July 25 knee surgery.